Like I said before, he wasn't very good in 6 degrees but it was his first major role so he gets a pass. But in Bad Boys, Independence Day, MIB, Wild Wild West (one of the worst movies ever), Enemy of the State, Hitch, I Robot he played the same exact character- himself. Hancock was downright terrible and Will wasn't at all believable as an alcoholic anti-hero. Ali was decent, and the others were his attempt at real drama that were passable. So in most films he's just Will Smith with his character having a different name. Versatility, to me, means having the range to convincingly play different characters no matter how different, bizarre, etc they are. Gary Oldman is versatile, Daniel Day Lewis is versatile, Johnny Depp (very underrated) is versatile. Will Smith just plays different versions of Will Smith, but that's not a slight on him because the same can be said about Humphrey Bogart, Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise... basically all the movie stars, different from character actors.

I do realise that a heap of his early roles he was hired to be the Fresh Prince, but in my mind 1 great acting performance makes you a credible actor, 2 makes you a good actor, 3 makes you great

And I rate Ali, 7 pounds, pursuit of happiness and i am legend as great performances
When watching those I wasn't thinking, thats will smith, I believed he was the character, which is hard for an actor of Will Smiths fame to achieve, a lot harder than it is for Daniel Day Lewis

I do realise that a heap of his early roles he was hired to be the Fresh Prince, but in my mind 1 great acting performance makes you a credible actor, 2 makes you a good actor, 3 makes you great

And I rate Ali, 7 pounds, pursuit of happiness and i am legend as great performances
When watching those I wasn't thinking, thats will smith, I believed he was the character, which is hard for an actor of Will Smiths fame to achieve, a lot harder than it is for Daniel Day Lewis

I've seen all of those movies except a part of 7 pounds and I personally didn't find them 'great'. All decent, not bad by any stretch, but nothing special. And there's a ton of actors who have comparable fame who are more capable and accomplished actors. Denzel Washington (before he got lazy), Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt... very commerical actors who convincingly disappear into the characters they are portraying. It's not a question of name/face recognition, it's a question of talent.